Understanding infections related to handling healthcare waste products is of critical importance and the application of simple and low-cost strategies remain a priority in low-income and middle-income countries to protect healthcare workers. We examined the potential effect of relative humidity (RH), air temperature and ultraviolet irradiation (UI) to establish an efficient and effective way to facilitate disposal of medical waste. Literature is emerging on the effect of high RH and high temperature, which would increase airborne mass deposition and decrease the viability of viruses in both airborne particles and on surfaces. On the other hand, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 has been proven to be susceptible to UI when suspended in air like other coronaviruses. An innovative approach utilizing environmental conditions might represent an effective and efficient way to ensure better and sustainable protection of the healthcare workers in low-resourced settings.

了解与处理医疗废物相关的感染至关重要，在低收入和中等收入国家中，采用简单且低成本的策略仍然是保护医疗工作者的优先事项。我们研究了相对湿度（RH），气温和紫外线辐射（UI）的潜在影响，以建立有效且有效的方式来促进医疗废物的处置。关于高相对湿度和高温的影响的文献不断涌现，这将增加空气中的物质沉积并降低病毒在空气中的颗粒和表面上的生存能力。另一方面，严重的急性呼吸系统综合症冠状病毒2已被证明像其他冠状病毒一样悬浮在空气中对UI敏感。